ALRC Terms of Reference for Copyright Law

Yesterday the Australian Attorney General, the Hon. Nicola Roxon, released the final Terms of Reference for the Australian Law Reform Commission's review of copyright law in the digital age. The Terms of Reference are as follows:

Having regard to:

• the objective of copyright law in providing an incentive to create and disseminate original copyright materials;
• the general interest of Australians to access, use and interact with content in the advancement of education, research and culture;
• the importance of the digital economy and the opportunities for innovation leading to national economic and cultural development created by the emergence of new digital technologies; and
• Australia’s international obligations, international developments and previous copyright reviews.

I refer to the ALRC for inquiry and report pursuant to subsection 20(1) of the Australian Law Reform Commission Act 1996 the matter of whether the exceptions and statutory licences in the Copyright Act 1968, are adequate and appropriate in the digital environment.
Amongst other things, the ALRC is to consider whether existing exceptions are appropriate and whether further exceptions should:

• recognise fair use of copyright material;
• allow transformative, innovative and collaborative use of copyright materials to create and deliver new products and services of public benefit; and
• allow appropriate access, use, interaction and production of copyright material online for social, private or domestic purposes.

The ALRC plans to release an Issues Paper in August 2012, and at this time will call for submissions. The ALRC is due to provide a Final Report with recommendations for reform by November 2013.


The Attorney-General's Department has also announced a second inquiry into Technological Protection Measures (DRM). The inquiry will consider the exceptions for circumventing TPMs. Initial submissions are due 17 August 2012 - you can find out more information about it here.




Further Information
ALRC, Terms of Reference Received for the ALRC Copyright Inquiry (29 June 2012) < http://www.alrc.gov.au/news-media/media-release/terms-reference-received-alrc-copyright-inquiry > at 30 June 2012

ALRC, Terms of Reference, ALRC (29 June 2012) < http://www.alrc.gov.au/inquiries/copyright/terms-reference >  at 30 June 2012

Australian Copyright Council, Government releases final ALRC terms of reference and announces review of TPMs (29 June 2012) < http://www.copyright.org.au/news-and-policy/details/id/2129/ > at 30 June 2012


Attorney Generals Department, Review of Technological Protection Measure exceptions made under the Copyright Act 1968 (29 June 2012) < http://www.ag.gov.au/Consultationsreformsandreviews/Pages/ReviewofTechnologicalProtectionMeasureexceptionsmadeundertheCopyrightAct1968.aspx > at 30 June 2012

IASPM - ANZ 2012 Conference

I was pretty happy to find out yesterday that my abstract has been accepted for the 2012 International Association for the Study of Popular Music (Australia and New Zealand) conference, to be held in Tasmania in December this year (5th to 7th). The theme of the conference is Shifting Sounds: Musical Flow and my abstract is titled: “The Flow of Political Music on the Internet: The Get Up Mob’s ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’ and the Legendary K.O.’s ‘George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People’ as case examples of political music on the internet”. The paper I am going to present examines these two songs and the role the internet played in their dissemination and reception. I am particularly keen to discuss the regulatory factors that enabled/hampered their reception and how changes could be made in the future to better ensure the flow of political music on the internet. If you are interested in finding out more about the conference, check out the IASPM ANZ website here.

Further Information
IASPM ANZ, IASPM-ANZ 2012 Conference (11 May 2012) < http://iaspm.org.au/iaspm-anz-2012-conference/#more-396 > at 23 June 2012
 

A Bill of Rights for the Digital Environment

ArsTechnica reports that Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) have started a campaign for a Bill of Rights for the Digital Environment. Congressman Darrell Issa  has published the Bill of Rights on the website KeepTheWebOpen.com and is seeking input from all those that are interested and concerned to develop the Bill of Rights into a workable document. If you are interested in participating you can do so here. I personally think this list is already very good but would probably like to see something supporting fair use/fair dealing as well. 

Here are the proposed ten rights:

1. The right to a free and uncensored Internet.
2. The right to an open, unobstructed Internet.
3. The right to equality on the Internet.
4. The right to gather and participate in online activities.
5. The right to create and collaborate on the Internet.
6. The right to freely share their ideas.
7. The right to access the Internet equally, regardless of who they are or where they are.
8. The right to freely associate on the Internet.
9. The right to privacy on the Internet.
10. The right to benefit from what they create.

 Further ReadingArsTechncia, SOPA opponents unveil "Digital Bill of Rights" (13 June 2012) < http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/06/sopa-opponents-unveil-digital-bill-of-rights > at 18 June 2012 KeepTheWebOpen.com < http://keepthewebopen.com/digital-bill-of-rights > at 18 June 2012

Coal Seam Gas

A big environmental movement has been growing over the past 12 months or so in my local area with local residents very concerned about Coal Seam Gas Mining and the limited power to stop gas companies from entering onto people's land and drilling for gas. On the weekend I participated in a rally and presentation to the local Mayor of declarations from the residents on each of the streets in our village stating that the residents are refusing to allow gas companies to mine on their properties.

It is very interesting to see this movement grow both in real space and on the internet. Facebook pages are being used to communicate with and coordinate concerned citizens, youtube/vimeo are being used to disseminate audio and video footage, concerts are being organised to support the cause, CDs are being released, movies are being made and there is even a musical being written and performed by local artists (Coal Seam Gas the Musical).

Here are a couple of clips that highlight the issue - the first is from the Dunoon Celebrations on the weekend when an adaptation of Woody Guthrie's This Land is Your Land was sung (I have a white coat and pink scarf on and am standing on the left). The second clip is a song from a local artist called Luke Vassella (he has a few songs on this topic now) - I am going to play this song and a few of his others on air next week on my radio show (I have already played a whole hour of song on Coal Seam Gas on my radio show earlier in the year). The third (Vimeo) clip is a trailer for a new film about the music that was performed at a rally in Lismore - the film, due to be released soon, is called Rock The Gate (Lock the Gate is the name of the campaign currently underway in the Northern Rivers).

It is both fascinating and wonderful to see the power of protest, art and the internet combined together - enjoy:

Year Zero

Just came across a description about a new book on copyright law and the dysfunction of the music industry called Year Zero. It sounds hilarious - aliens have been hooked on earth's popular music since 1977 and are now liable for zillions in copyright infringement fines. The book, written in the style of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, concerns a lawyer, Nick Carter, who thinks its a joke when two extraterrestrials turn up at his office and tell him about the intergalactic use of music - due to copyright liability, earth, or more likely the record labels, now own everything and the aliens are not happy - he has 48 hours to save humanity. Of course this is fiction and would only to appeal to certain people (like me!!!! ha!!!) but it might be worth checking it out. Its due to be released July 2012. There is a competition to win a free copy of the book - you can read more about that here at the author Rob Reid's website. There is also a trailer about the book you can watch here:




Further Reading
Amazon, Year Zero (June 2012) < http://www.amazon.com/Year-Zero-Novel-Rob-Reid/dp/0345534417/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339377312&sr=8-1&keywords=year+zero  > at 11 June 2012

io9, Copyright law threatens to destroy the world, in Year Zero (6 June 2012) < http://io9.com/5916293/copyright-law-threatens-to-destroy-the-world-in-year-zero > at 11 June 2012

TechDirt, Aliens v. The RIAA! Win An Early Release Copy Of Year Zero, Techdirt's July Book Club Offering (7 June 2012) < http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120607/01452619232/aliens-v-riaa-win-early-release-copy-year-zero-techdirts-july-book-club-offering.shtml > at 11 June 2012

Rob Reid, Year Zero #BeamToAliens Giveaway (7 June 2012) < http://readrobreid.com/blog/post/year-zero-beamtoaliens-giveaway > at 11 June 2012